When we were little my mom made me, my cousins Erik and Bjorn, and my brother Kevin capes out of bathroom towels…she sewed our initials in them, and tied it at the neck with a simple button…

Those capes were all we needed for hours and hours of fun off gallivanting and playing in the woods between our homes.

I remember believing that with that cape I could fly! And I BELIEVED! I believed that the world was magical, and that with God all things were possible. I was an optimistic, stubborn little girl, and that’s why my dad nicknamed me “Punk!” I remember concentrating with all my might and then sprinting across the yard, my cape waving behind me, before taking a giant leap of faith that ended in a painful belly flop that knocked the wind out of me.